5 SUCCESS FACTORS IN SELLING SMB ONLINE PRESENCE


JUNE 22 2015

The global SMB web presence market has reached $17.3Bn in 2015 and will grow to $25.6Bn by 2018 according to the latest research from Odin.

Across Europe, over 50% of SMBs do not have a website and of those who do, typically 50% are dissatisfied with the one that they have, which leaves a significant 75% addressable market.

There is huge opportunity for service provider organisations who already work with SMBs, who can launch online presence services to:

  • Grow revenues by gaining a share of the customer's marketing budget
  • Expand from being a ‘utilities company’ to a value-added service provider
  • Increase customer retention - high quality websites make customers sticky
  • Use online presence as an on-ramp to other value-added services like Office 365, e-commerce, online marketing, and more.


Success Factors


The above points are clear, yet many organisations have failed and only some have succeeded.

What have the winners done? We have narrowed it down to 5 critical factors:

  1. Differentiate using core assets
  2. Make activation as easy as possible
  3. Accommodate requirements growth
  4. Integrate with third-party apps
  5. Provide help (professional services) for those who want it


1. Leverage your DATA

Leverage your differentiating assets - existing customer relationships and online/offline sales channels.


The problem with sales for many software companies is acquiring customers. Telecom operators, directories, hosting providers and other service providers already have a huge bank of customers to up-sell to and the channels to make it possible.

Successful players have leveraged their existing physical store presence, inside and field based sales teams as channels which online-only players lack.



2. Make activation easy

Make it easy to activate customers and get them started quickly.


Getting activation right is critical. Many customers have perceptions that getting started is difficult, so make it easy.

  • Use your existing customer data to build a website for them automatically to get customers started
  • Let them know it's ready via SMS and email
  • Bundle with products like Office 365 email and domains and activate these at the same time. Businesses need all three.


3. AccomModate Growth

Access customers' high-value design and marketing budgets.


What is the point in acquiring and getting customers launched easily if they will need to switch to another provider when their needs grow and they need more functionality?

Once your customers launch and start to grow and become successful, quickly they will want to take things to the next level and so it is important to enable customers to achieve both their design and functionality requirements.

  • Customers will want to personalize and customize their website and online store with a unique design that reflects their brand, not just an off-the-shelf template.
  • With a professional website in place they will want invest more in getting found via search and on social media
  • Businesses will eventually also want to manage inquiries and transactions with customers using complementary and integrated systems

4. Integrate with 3rd party apps


As SMBs requirements grow, they need several specialist applications (CRM, accounting, unified communications, etc).

Almost immediately it becomes clear that there is value in ensuring these applications can work together so users can setup and share data between applications and get the most out of them. There are many adjacencies and customer journey possibilities (website sending data to CRM; combining a single inventory database across physical and virtual stores, etc).

5. Provide professional services & support


When it comes to websites, many businesses are too busy to do it themselves and prefer a professional to take over.

Offering professional and value-added services in addition to self service shows customers that you can help them no matter what their requirements and is a high-value and high-retention business.

There are a number of leading companies in the market who can provide fulfillment under your own brand.


In Summary


Summing up, success in this industry depends on getting customers started easily, but more crucially, on providing unlimited growth and customization to provide viable long-term solutions for your customers.

Mono Solutions is the only online presence platform that enables customers to start easily and grow indefinitely without ever needing any coding knowledge without ever compromising on quality. We are proud to partner with over 60 companies worldwide in white-label partnerships.

Talk to us about how we can help you.

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Louise Lachmann

Chief Executive Officer

Co-Founder

Mono Solutions